Yasiel Puig is the very thing that stands to undo the Dodgers’ World Series championship hopes.

Not injuries to Clayton Kershaw or Brian Wilson or any other player.

Puig couldn’t even make the time to be on time for the Dodgers’ home opener on Friday. He doesn’t care about his team or his bosses or the fans who hang on his every at-bat.

Don’t listen to what he says. Watch what he does. He’s not responsible. He’s reckless and selfish and his mistakes are inexcusable because he’s not learning from them.

When his Dodgers teammates took the Dodger Stadium field for stretching exercises at 9:40 a.m., Puig was in the clubhouse changing in a hurry after a late arrival and didn’t grace the team with his presence until after batting practice started.

Manager Don Mattingly did what he had to do and benched him. Puig didn’t even get in the game as a pinch hitter. Afterward, he apologized through an interpreter.

“I asked for forgiveness for my mistake,” Puig said. “I’m sincerely sorry. I think Mattingly made the right decision scratching me from the lineup.”

Puig told his teammates and Mattingly that he was up at 7 a.m. just sitting in his apartment.

“It’s my first Opening Day,” Puig said. “It’s my fault for not being in the lineup.”

It wasn’t Puig’s fault the Dodgers lost the home opener to the Giants, 8-4, but he certainly could’ve helped the Dodgers. He’s one of the most electric players in baseball. Who knows if he would’ve hit an early home run and played good defense and hit cutoff men.

“There’s a lot going on. I’m not frustrated because Yasiel was humbled,” Mattingly said. “I truly believe that. It was a mistake, and we move forward. I don’t think it will be a big deal for us.”

Everything Puig does is a big deal.

Puig said he apologized to the team, not as a group but during batting practice.

“It’s not about apologizing to the team,” said first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, who has a locker near Puig and has tried to help mentor him. “It’s about being here on time. That (will show) he meant it. It’s not about what he says. It’s about what he does.”

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Patience is about to start wearing thin if Puig doesn’t clean up his act.

It was an early call time to be sure, but everyone else made it on time. Mattingly said he woke up at 6 a.m. to arrive at Dodger Stadium. Asked if he was ever late in his career with the Yankees, Mattingly said no.

Gonzalez said he was never late to a stretch, but that he was late to the team bus a couple of times. Puig has been late three times on game days and he hasn’t even been with the Dodgers a full year. Gonzalez told him to work toward being here two hours earlier than required, standard operating procedure for many players.

There’s a saying that Gonzalez said he really likes: “You rush in and out of the clubhouse, you rush in and out of your career.”

Puig — after his infamous stop for speeding through Gator Alley in Florida in the offseason — has a driver now. The Dodgers should start texting him the schedule as well.

Dodgers scout Mike Brito, who discovered and signed Puig, asked him what happened before the game. He said Puig told him he thought the game was at 2 p.m. instead of 1 p.m.

Then Brito gave Puig some tough love.

“I said, ‘Let me ask you a question. What do you want in this life?,’” Brito asked him. “‘You’ve got it all. You’re breaking all the rules. You tried to get out of Cuba, and now you have this opportunity. You’re going to be out of baseball because of yourself if you keep doing this. Nobody is going to put you out of baseball. You’re going to do it yourself.’”

No one more wants to see Puig succeed more than Brito, and that’s why he took off his scout hat and put on a different one.

“I was talking to him like a father, not a scout,” Brito said. “I told him, `I wish you understood you have to change and very quick. You break the rules. I’m excited for you because you have everything to be a superstar. But you have to think about it.’ I’ve told him that before. He’s 23. He’s not a baby anymore. You have to follow the rules.”

Puig cheated everyone out of watching his antics — both dazzling and disturbing — in the home opener. Shame on him. Know what? Many fans didn’t care and started chanting, “We want Puig!” after Matt Kemp, who got the start because of Puig’s tardiness, misplayed a ball in center field.

But his teammates, manager and front office matter. Puig needs to think about someone other himself for a change, and the Dodgers need to baby sit him by the hour.